Todd Sampson invests in social media start-up Visual Amplifiers

Qantas and Fairfax Media director Todd Sampson plans to financially back a new tech start-up after taking on his third board role with a company that matches high-profile consumer brands with Instagram "influencers".

Mr Sampson, the non-executive chairman of advertising agency Leo Burnett, said it will be an easy decision to invest some of his own money in Visual Amplifiers (Vamp) given his enthusiasm for a product that disrupts the traditional advertising model.

Todd Sampson has been appointed a director of tech start-up Visual Amplifiers. Photo: Nic Walker

"I love the changes that are happening in the digital space, I love the way its knocking our structures down and I want to be a part of that," Mr Sampson said in an interview. "I will certainly be a shareholder. If you believe in something it's important to be a part of it."

With his regular appearances as a panellist on The Project and The Gruen Transfer along with recent documentary Redesign My Brain, Mr Sampson's transition to two high-profile board positions has been a talking point within corporate Australia.

Vamp marks his third director role but the Canada-born executive said after stepping down as Leo Burnett chief executive last year, he is confident he can balance the demands of the boardroom with his own projects.

"I've created a life that will allow me to do all that," Mr Sampson said. "It's easy to forget it's not just about making films or being on boards. It's also my family. I'm very concentrated now, more than ever before, on getting a bit of balance in my life."

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Vamp, founded by Aaron Brooks and developed as part of Sydney-based start-up accelerator Digital4ge, allows businesses to more easily access the fast-growing set of independent content producers and influencers who have built huge followings through Instagram and other social media including Facebook, Pinterest and Twitter.

Last year Brand Data estimated Australia's top six bloggers now have a larger combined audience than the highest-selling magazine, newspaper and TV program collectively.

Mr Sampson, who has more than 94,000 Twitter followers, said Vamp taps into the holy grail of marketing: word of mouth.

"You have to say word of mouth has been and still remains arguably the most powerful form of marketing that exists," he argues. "It's just been amplified by social media and all the different channels that entails and then again by visual media."

Vamp works as a link among 700 "social influencers'' on its books and clients such as Uniqlo, eBay and Samsung by offering services that include talent recruitment, product delivery and payments through to reporting, analytics and optimisation. The company will initially target Australia, Singapore, the Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia.

Mr Sampson said working out how to get a better connection with social media is on the radar of every company he deals with.

"If you're a brand and you're not considering the power of influencers, that's crazy," he said. "Now when we refer to brands we are talking about the communities and behaviour underneath the brand which is hyper-social, and it's that behaviour that Vamp is going to take advantage of commercially."

The entrepreneur's introduction to Vamp was sparked by recruitment industry veteran Geoff Morgan – the co-founder of Morgan & Banks and Talent2 – and a shareholder in Vamp's owner Digital4ge.

Another significant backer of Vamp is New York-based alternative asset manager Lind Partners, which in 2014 enlisted Gina Rinehart's son John Hancock as an adviser. Lind founder Jeff Easton, the first investor in crown founding website Kickstarter, has already committed funding for Vamp.

Vamp promises to significantly improve Instagram's 3 per cent engagement rate, with its app and platform designed to also incorporate Pinterest, Snapchat, Youtube and Facebook in the future.

Another innovation Vamp is considering is an index that streamlines the amount of money charged by Instagram influencers.

"We find some Instagram talent with 10,000 followers is charging twice as much as someone with 50,000 followers and neither of them actually knows," said Mr McGrath. "That is something we are looking at."